Chief Program Officer / Chief Capacity Officer

About Empower Work

Empower Work is a national nonprofit changing the lives of workers across the United States. We envision a world where everyone can thrive at work. When work actually works for people, an individual’s economic and emotional well-being increases. And there is a ripple effect: communities, companies, the economy, and our democracy, thrive.

Mission

Empower Work is on a mission to create healthy, equitable workplaces where people are valued, supported, and empowered in ways that support their economic mobility, emotional well-being, and career success.

How We Fuel Change

To achieve our mission, we take a three pronged approach:

• Direct service - our free, confidential text line improves well-being for historically marginalized workers through coaching and resources that support increased confidence, clarity, agency, empowerment, and economic security – all rooted in equity
• Training and community - we improve workplace skills, practices, and education through our training platform for both volunteers and community partners
• Policy and practice change - we root approaches to systemic workplace change in worker’s experiences through data and stories
  
  

Since 2018, we've supported over 400,000 workers through our text line and digital content. Over 94% report improved mental health and over 80% report improved financial security. See more of our impact in our 2023 Impact Report. We overwhelmingly support workers with the least power and fewest resources. Over 54% of those our mission supports identify as a person of color, 76% identify as women, and 80% make less than $75K/year. Top industries served are health and human services, retail, service, education, tech (IT), and other (manufacturing, trucking, etc).

Joining the team as our new Chief Program Officer is a unique opportunity to lead us into a new era of impact. We're open to titles from Head of Programs to Chief Capacity Officer. We’re looking for someone with strategic and entrepreneurial skill sets who will leverage existing programmatic strengths and bring to life new components required as we expand to reach and change the lives of over 3 million workers.

You’ll join a nimble, collaborative, creative, and “roll-up-your-sleeves” team as well as a community of driven, accomplished professionals who are passionate about making workplaces across the U.S. positive environments, rich in opportunity for everyone. Ultimately, every team member, advisor, volunteer, Board Member, and champion is driven by the goal of growing our impact by ensuring millions more people have the tools to thrive at work.

Our Culture

As a team, we have a shared purpose, prioritizing a healthy, equitable, welcoming work environment that includes a robust sense of belonging, flexibility to tackle what’s needed across life, support to grow and thrive personally and professionally, and meaning in doing this transformational work together towards big goals while having fun and finding joy.

Our Values

We operate from shared values driven by our vision and mission. They are how we show up every day in our work as we make decisions, evaluate our impact, and assess how we can better serve workers.

• We put our community first. Human-centered service is at the core of how we approach our work. We’re committed to prioritizing the people we serve above all else, and striving to meet their needs through every aspect of our work
• We improve ourselves and our impact with care. We’re committed to growing individually and as a team to achieve our mission. We build each other up to improve our individual and collective impact. With trust and empathy, we share and accept feedback often. We are hard on ideas to maximize our individual and collective impact, and easy on people to preserve a safe, trusting, and collaborative culture. When disagreeing, we do it early, create respectful space for exploring, then commit to the final decision. We know that challenging perspectives and being respectful are in harmony, not conflict
• We hold ourselves accountable. We are accountable for the impact of our actions. We acknowledge and address any shortcomings, communicate proactively, and consistently deliver on our goals to achieve the impact we are committed to
• We embrace curiosity. We are constantly curious to better ourselves, the community we serve, and our impact. We explore what’s working, what’s not, what we do and don’t know about the people we serve. We dig into those questions actively through quantitative and qualitative data analysis, asking into the community and testing iterative approaches to impact, and actively seeking feedback from our help seekers, partners, and advisors
• We embody equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging. We share a commitment to creating an environment where everyone has an opportunity to thrive. As a team, we seek out, welcome, and value diverse experiences and perspectives knowing that makes our work, our team, and our impact stronger
  
  

About The Role

Empower Work’s Chief Program Officer will be responsible for leading our program strategy across our text line, training, and partnership work, and overseeing the execution of that strategy with their team. They will work closely with the Executive Director as a thought partner, team galvanizer, and strategy implementer to ensure that Empower Work is creating the best strategy from programs, and seeing that strategy through to completion (and having fun while doing it!).

Empower Work’s Chief Program Officer will be responsible for deeply understanding the needs of vulnerable workers that Empower Work supports, our theory of change, the outcomes we seek to impact through our work (economic security, emotional well-being, and equitable workplaces), and developing and executing programmatic plans to meet those outcomes.

Impact You’ll Have In the First Year

We have 5+ years of data and insights on what leads to the best outcomes across our text line, training, and partnerships. We’re eager to kickstart this next phase for Empower Work with a Chief Program Officer who will join and help us tackle big goals. Within the first year, we envision this role:

• Leading groundbreaking workforce development partnership work that will change the landscape of workforce training program alumni and community support
• Developing a Programs strategic plan that includes an annual roadmap to achieve our North Star goal of serving 3M workers in the next 2 years
• Significantly expanding and deepening our training program, text line, and partnership work, making data-informed decisions towards goals
  
  

Responsibilities in 2024 and Beyond:

Program Operations and Effectiveness

• Oversee core programs including text line, training, and partnership work and strategically lead the team to structure programs that will reach 3M workers
• Collaborate with, support, and drive the relevant team members and/or outside vendors to ensure that we are effectively executing against our programmatic goals and roadmap including working closely with CTO and ED on tech, product, and marketing needs
• Build and manage the program team’s effectiveness at planning and coordination, especially through scaling goals for text line, training, and partnerships
• Support other team members in keeping long-term goals, cross-functional planning, and big picture strategy top of mind while executing daily priorities
• Ensure the organization builds the right capacity and infrastructure as we grow
• Instill a strong culture of goal setting and progress monitoring that aligns individual, program team, and organization goals at the right cadence
• Manage budget to effectively allocate resources to maximize the impact of growth initiatives while staying within financial constraints
  
  

Strategic Planning

• Partner with the Executive Director to set, implement, and monitor the strategic direction for the organization, including business strategy and implementation
• Ensure the organization has the right data, tools, internal systems, and frameworks to balance opportunity and risk to set strategy that is aligned with long-term aspirations
  
  

Growth & Innovation

• Foster a culture of learning, failing forward, and iteration in pursuit of enhancing overall impact
• Partner w/ Executive Director to effectively pitch funders on initiatives that align with our strategic priorities and allow us to test/pilot new programs, technologies, and partnerships
• Conduct due diligence with potential partner organizations to surface opportunities for increasing our overall reach
• Assess and test earned revenue opportunities with the goal of generating low-cost, repeatable revenue streams to fuel overall growth and impact for Empower Work
• Ensure that all tests, pilots, and partnerships have a clear learning agenda to generate data to inform future programming and partnerships
• Keep internal and external stakeholders informed on growth, partnerships, and innovation progress and how it impacts overall growth and success of Empower Work
• Determine, implement, and lead scaling strategies for promising initiatives
• Engage in BD activities to build a pipeline of potential partners through general networking, responding to incoming inquiries, and attending events to evangelize Empower Work and build connections
  
  

What We’re Looking For

• 10-15+ years of experience with key program leadership (e.g., run workforce training programs, overseen program areas, etc)
• Strong examples of experience delivering impact and achieving scale with workforce programs
• Significant experience growing, developing, and leading program teams doing direct service work
• Experience building, running, and working with programs for nonprofits with an understanding of how programs and fundraising and revenue models intersect. Experience with funders is a plus
• Strong commitment to helping people grow in their careers
• Strong operational and management skills
• Understanding of and interest in skill development, coaching, training
• An inspirational leader who knows when to step up and when to step back
• Deep understanding, respect, and appreciation for the workers and communities we serve
  
  

You’ll thrive as Chief Program Officer at Empower Work if...

• You are energized to lead the team that implements Empower Work’s mission to build healthy, equitable workplaces
• You thrive creatively, empathetically exploring new ways to achieve impact
• You have a high-quality bar for program work
• You enjoy leading teams who implement programs and can jump in and be part of programs yourself as needed
• You enjoy partnering with leaders to implement a vision
• You understand how to use data and analytics to inform decisions about program design and implementation
• You are an eager and brave learner comfortable trying new things in service of continuous learning, improvement, and innovation
• You find joy in collaborating and helping others and aren't shy about asking for help when needed
• You enjoy variety and adapting within growing, distributed organizational environments
• You’re proactive and do the work, as well as offer your own perspective to do things better (we love ideas!)
• You are a self-aware and conscientious communicator
• You understand and are curious about workplace culture, organizational politics, and industry challenges
  
  

Important Details

• Location: Empower Work’s HQ is in San Francisco. Strong preference for Bay Area candidates. If outside the Bay Area, travel 1-2 times a year to the region for team building along with national travel 1-3 times a year for potential funder or other convenings
• Time: Full time
• Compensation: Dependent on location and experience. This role pays $115,000 - $138,000 for candidates in the Bay Area. We adjust final salaries based on location and experience. More information on salary based on your permanent location will be discussed in the interview process. This position is exempt. We also offer benefits including QSEHRA health reimbursement, a monthly workplace stipend, 401K, professional development funds, and generous time off including 3+ weeks of paid office closures, paid PTO, and paid leave for life needs such as parental, health, and bereavement
• Reporting: This role will report to the Executive Director and have two direct reports to start. Over time it is anticipated this team will grow and include more direct reports
  
  

What’s the application process and timeline?

Our goal is to bring a new team member on board by the end of September or early October. We’ll be moving through this process thoughtfully and ideally quickly!

• Applications Open: This application should take about 20 minutes including submitting your resume and a few questions
• Phone Interviews (30 minutes): There will be 20-30 minutes of pre-work prior to the call
• Zoom Interviews with Executive Director (1 hour): The Zoom interview will dig into the details of your experience professionally
• Project (1 hour): If moving to the project phase, you will receive a project scope which will take 1 hour to complete
• In-Person Final Interviews (2.5-3 hours): These will be with members of the team and members of the Board where you can learn more about the organization and we can dig into any final questions to ensure mutual alignment. These will be in person in San Francisco
• Reference Calls: Final candidates will share 3 professional references and we will reach out to them for 15 minute phone calls
• Final Offer Made in late September. Note: Empower Work will be having a staff retreat in the Bay Area in October that we would like our newest colleague to attend if possible
  
  

Is the full team remote? Will it stay that way?

When we started Empower Work, our staff were all located in the Bay Area. Since the beginning, our volunteers have been across the country - and the world. We are now a remote team with people in the Bay Area, Illinois, Georgia, and Tennessee. This position can be based anywhere in the United States with strong preference for the Bay Area to work closely with the Executive Director and CTO. We gather as a team 1-2 times a year, usually in the Bay Area.

Importance of Inclusion and Belonging

Hiring, supporting, and empowering a diverse, inclusive, collaborative team is at the core of our mission. We strongly encourage people of color, first-generation Americans, first in their family to pursue higher education or join a new industry, people with disabilities, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and women to apply.

Empower Work is an equal opportunity employer. This means all qualified applicants will receive consideration and will not be discriminated against because of race, ethnicity, sex, age, religion, national origin, marital status, pregnancy, personal appearance, veteran status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, family responsibilities, or political affiliation.

Ready to Apply?

If you share our values and our enthusiasm for empowering people to thrive at work, we’d love to review your application! Instead of a cover letter, we ask you to submit your resume and answer three questions to share a bit more about you.

Note: You'll need valid U.S. work authorization to join us.

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